Dreaming
by Jennifer Darknight
Summary: When it all comes down to it, Death is just like a Dream...HinataXItachi One-shot.


_Dreaming  
_  
_By Jennifer Darknight  
_  
Death is like an eternal dream, covered in Red and Darkness. Far away from reality, yet close to an Everlasting Truth, through which one can find peace or destruction, depending on the moment or state of one's own mind. No suffering, no loneliness. Just becoming one with your own Dream.  
  
He had always wanted to find that dream. He searched and searched for it, looking amongst the strangest places to search and discover such dream that would bring him to the world of Death. To end his own inner struggle that has eaten him away since childhood. He wanted to grasp the unreality and leave everything into the Endless Void.  
  
But...  
  
Somehow, he...  
  
He didn't want to leave yet.  
  
After all that time of searching, now that the time might have been able to come, he didn't want to find it anymore. He wanted to be awake a lot longer. Much, much longer.  
  
Everything faded. All he could see was crimson, and he felt the sticky wetness spread across him like a destructive plague that was begging him to just lie down and die. There was pain there, he knew that—he just couldn't sense it. It was gone. It was as if he was numb to everything. He didn't sense the pain, nor did he sense the one that downed him.  
  
Sasuke's Door was closed. He stopped in his road, and started to run towards the light, just as he had hoped he would for years. Let go of the inner hatred and run. Run away from the dark that could have consumed him, and live his own life, free of sadness.  
  
But the young Uchiha thought that his brother's dream had already started. But the man lying on the ground in his own blood had only falsified sleep, if only to hold off his Dream for just one moment. With the right amount of training and Justus, anyone can falsify their trip to the Dream World. Sasuke didn't yet know how, but Itachi...Itachi knew it better than anyone else in the world.  
  
But...  
  
If he dreamt...  
  
Would she go away, too?  
  
"I-Itachi-san!"  
  
Her voice was still beautiful, even when he was on the brink of a dream. But everything was so much more beautiful in dreams. Although with her, it was almost impossible for her to be any more radiant than she already was. He wanted to hear more—he wanted to feel her touch and to smell her sweet scent...just to have the feeling that he still existed. That he was still alive.  
  
"Hi-Hinata-san..."  
  
The words choked out of his mouth, and he felt the blood run along the side of his jaw. His chest heaved and hurt from the damage that the little Uchiha had given him, but with Hinata's warm, comforting presence there, one could barely feel the pain. He could barely see her in his fuzzy vision, but he knew that she was there—still shining. Still gorgeous as ever.  
  
A hand went behind his head, and he felt himself get propped up against a tree nearby. It hurt a little, but he wasn't about to admit that to anyone—least of all to her. He didn't ever want to see her cry.  
  
"I-Itachi-san...daijoubu?"  
  
Her voice...it was trembling. Maybe it was because he was on the brink of Death, and she was still fully awake, unable to sense the coming of her own impending Dream. But he could sense her fear, almost as well as he could sense his little brother's hatred when the two fought face-to-face.  
  
"I'm...all right. Don't worry."  
  
Soft white hands ran down his chest in a quick, searching motion. He could feel his shirt being torn at, and he could hear the sounds of bottles clunking against the ground.  
  
Jars, of some sort.  
  
That girl. She was so stubborn. Even with her sweet and demure exterior, there was something inside her that beat every odd that was thrown in her direction. Something remarkable—something that would make her strong when the strength was needed most. And she felt that he needed her strength right now, so that he could live.  
  
"Hinata-san, don't wo..."  
  
"Shhh..."  
  
A finger was pressed against his lips, and he was half-tempted to kiss it, if not for old times' sake. He could feel something being applied against his bare skin—something wet and warm. But at the same time, he felt a strong, jolting sensation rush through his entire form...but it wasn't something that would make him want to crawl into a fetal position. He'd been treated for worse. Much worse.  
  
"Hinata-san..."  
  
"Itachi-san, please...try not to talk. Save your strength."  
  
"Hinata-san, I..."  
  
"No! You're going to make it!" More trembling, and soft whimpers coming out of her throat. Itachi cursed his position, and wished that he could have been able to move—at least to wipe the tears that were running down Hinata's pale cheeks. If there was one thing that he hated more than anything...it was seeing her break down like this.  
  
"Y-you...saved me...when I was almost dead. You brought me back to life, Itachi-san. And I...want to save you..."  
  
"N-no need..." He never wanted to let her go. But the girl still had a chance at a life. A future. He knew that if she was with him, she'd feel nothing but sadness, hurt, and loneliness. He knew that she'd felt that the entire time, but still she persevered and stayed with him, giving him all of her love and affection with courage and an innocent, truthful smile. "Your cousin will be here soon, Hinata-san. You still have a chance...to live a normal life..."  
  
"I'll die before..." More sobs. More choking, trembling sobs. They tore at Itachi's heart, but Hinata still went on. "I'll die before...Neji-niisan brings me back."  
  
She didn't want him to enter the Dream World. She wanted him to be awake, and experience more of the Real World by her side.  
  
Tears. He could feel tears falling down onto his face—soft, salty little things that wet him only slightly. But with each one he could feel his own heart being torn in half.  
  
"...Itachi-san, my life is with you...it is nowhere else."  
  
A slight smile came to his features, despite all the emotions that were welling up and swirling inside of him.  
  
"And I with you, Koishi."  
  
Something was being wrapped around him with deft and quick fingers. Bandages, perhaps. Lately, that was the only thing that was being wrapped around his body. With all the battles that he was in, he never really got a moment's rest, and when he did, Hinata was always wrapping up his wounds, and patching him up to be able to fight again. Even though she had changed so much—from being this shy little thing to this strong, beautiful woman—she never lost her desire to help others, or her love to treat the sick and wounded.  
  
Itachi wondered if he had changed. Well, years went by, so he had to have changed. Everyone does. But growing up in the waking world can mean both disaster and promise to the one who it was happening to.  
  
He didn't know where he stood, but...  
  
Hinata-san.  
  
He would die if it meant her happiness.  
  
"Itachi-san, I've treated the wound as best I can. We have to go back and treat you before Uchiha-kun notices that you're still alive."  
  
Go 'back' where? To the ones he had once led, Itachi was now dead—killed by his own little brother, no less—and if he went back now, he would suffer a fate much worse than anything Sasuke could possibly do to him. His village wouldn't accept him either (which was a given, after all that he had done over the years. And who in their right mind would accept a feared criminal?)...  
  
"Back where?"  
  
"Back home." Hinata's voice said in response. There was a slight tinge of sadness in it, but he couldn't really tell since he was still unable to see her face. Before it was the pain, and now the tranquilizing effects of the medicine that Hinata applied were working on him. Note that this was much stronger than what she usually used—Itachi had gained a strong resistance to the weaker sort, so the white-eyed girl had to resort to her strongest concoctions just so his wounds wouldn't infect.  
  
Itachi felt an arm encircle around his shoulders, and pull him up to his feet. The medicine was working, so he didn't even feel any pain as he went up, although he was sure that he was going to feel it in the morning.  
  
Although he wasn't sure where he was going to wake up, and what Hinata meant by 'home'. Most likely they'd find a small abandoned cottage somewhere, and make that their home for a lifetime. Everyone had thought they had reached their own Dreams. So, when one falsifies sleep, they just disappear, never to be seen again.  
  
And then, with their own love that they had sown and matured, they would fly.

* * *

Owari! sobs Oh my gosh! I'm finally done with this short! YAY! sniffles Actually, I intend to do a long story with this coupling, which I am going to debut really soon. Oh, and this story was written for Canelle, who wrote the sweet ItachiXHinata story, "An Obscure Love". I read it in both English and French, and even though the English version suffers from bad grammar, the story is really worth checking out.   
  
Peace out, yo.   
  
Jen 


End file.
